IV OUT APRIL 1 ON DINE ALONE RECORDS
VANCOUVER ROCKERS ON TOUR NOW IN EUROPE, NORTH AMERICAN DATES BEGIN APR 21
PHOTO CREDIT : MAGDALENA WOSINSKA
Black Mountain’s upcoming album, IV, is set for release on April 1 via Dine Alone Records in Canada, and today fans can stream the entire album courtesy of CBC Music. To support the record, the band just began a lengthy tour throughout Europe and North America with Canadian stops scheduled in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and WayHome Festival. Full tour dates can be found below.
The Vancouver rock band were toying with idea of calling the album “Our Strongest Material To Date,” laughs keyboardistJeremy Schmidt. He can afford to joke about what they describe as “the dog-eared ace of spades of all rock band platitudes.” It was during a solo show under his Sinoia Caves alias that he performed a revelatory electronic prototype for “Mothers Of The Sun”. This quintessentially Black Mountain tour-de-force kicks off the renamed but still accurately titled IV. “It’s actually an older song which we couldn’t get quite right before,” explains Schmidt. “It has all the elements that we gravitate towards, built into one miniature epic.”
STREAM IV HERE VIA CBC MUSIC
Chief among these elements is the distinctive voice and breathtaking range of Amber Webber, whether she’s powering through interstellar boogie on “Florian Saucer Attack”, setting the celestial tone for her beautifully orchestrated ballad “Line Them All Up”, or constructing the choral midsection for “Space To Bakersfield”, a psychedelic soul finale inspired by Funkadelic’s deathless Maggot Brain.
The group’s sense of rediscovery as a creative whole is tangible throughout. They were joined in the studio by spiritually attuned bassist and veteran purveyor of the riff, Arjan Miranda (S.T.R.E.E.T.S, Children, The Family Band) whose roots, heart and soul are connected to the same soil and cement that Black Mountain were borne from. Recording was primarily done in close collaboration with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Wolves In The Throne Room, Marissa Nadler), at his trusted Avast! facility in Seattle. “It’s got some grit,” enthuses guitarist and co-vocalist Stephen McBean. “And there’s a history there: Northwest punk, grunge and general weirdo outsider stuff, plus it houses the same Trident mixing board used for Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies.”
A heightened mystique and dramatic yearning can be heard on such perfectly formed earworms as “Cemetery Breeding”, described by drummer, engineer and occasional pianist Joshua Wells as “a dark pop song with an emotive urgency to it that taps into my teenaged eyeliner-and-trenchcoat wearing sensibilities.” Wells’ eclectic tastes and multitasking flair – his supple percussion also provides the backbone for Dan Bejar’s world-conquering Destroyer ensemble – inform Black Mountain’s wider palette as well as their rhythmic choices. “It’s like painting. All sound colour. And space is really important. People think of us as this heavy rock band – and we are sometimes – but it has to be tempered with space. There has to be these emotional cues. It’s not just about rocking out.”
IV TRACKLISTING
1. Mothers Of The Sun
2. Florian Saucer Attack
3. Defector
4. You Can Dream
5. Constellations
6. Line Them All Up
7. Cemetery Breeding
8. (Over And Over) The Chain
9. Crucify Me
10. Space To Bakersfield
BLACK MOUNTAIN TOUR DATES
3/26 - Porto, PT - Hard Club
3/28 - Lisbon, PT - Musicbox
3/31 - Madrid, SP - Sala Arena
4/1 - Barcelona, SP - Bikini
4/2 - Bilbao, SP - Kafe Antzoki
4/4 - Turin, IT - Spazio 211
4/5 - Bologna, IT - Lokomotiv
4/6 - Zurich, CH - Bogen F
4/7 - Geneva, CH - PTR Usine
4/8 - Paris, FR - La Fleche D'Or
4/9 - Brighton, UK - Concorde 2
4/10 - Leeds - Brudenell Social CLub
4/12 - London, UK - Electric Ballroom
4/13 - Brussels, BE - Botanique
4/14 - Tilburg, NL - Roadburn Festival
4/15 - Amsterdam, NL - Melkweg Oud Zaal
4/16 - Berlin, DE – Lido
4/21 - Bellingham, WA - The Shakedown
4/22 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
4/23 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir
4/25 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room
4/26 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
4/27 - Los Angeles, CA - The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
4/28 - Los Angeles, CA - The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
4/29 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
4/30 - Austin, TX - Levitation
5/3 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
5/4 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
5/5 - Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep
5/6 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
5/7 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
5/10 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
5/11 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
5/12 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
5/13 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
5/14 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
5/15 - Winnipeg, MB - Pyramid Cabaret
5/17 - Saskatoon, SK – Amigo’s
5/18 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room
5/19 - Calgary, AB - Marquee Beer Market + Stage
5/21 - Vancouver, BC - The Commodore Ballroom
6/9 – Spokane, WA - The Bartlett
6/10 – Boise, ID - Neurolux
6/11 – Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
6/14 – Kansas City, MO - The Riot Room
6/15 – Iowa City, IA - The Mill
6/16 – Bloomington, IN - The Bluebird
6/17 – St. Louis, MO - The Ready Room
6/18 – Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
6/19 – Memphis, TN - 1884 Lounge at Minglewood Plaza
6/21 – Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre
6/22 – Atlanta, GA - Terminal West
6/23 – Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle
6/24 – Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
6/25 – Washington, DC - Black Cat
6/28 – Ashbury Park, NJ - Wonder Bar
6/29 – Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
6/30 New York, NY - The Bowery Ballroom
7/1 – Ithaca, NY - The Haunt
7/2 – Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
7/21 – Montreal, QC - Théâtre Fairmount
7/22 – Ottawa, ON - Ritual Nightclub
7/23 – Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
7/22-24 - Oro-Medonte, ON - WayHome Music & Arts Festival
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